On 3/15/22 we took a day hike called "Aviles". This is a 10.3 miles and ranked as moderate. We started at 9 with a 40 minute van ride across the Chacabuco Valley.
The hike began as very flat from the bridge across a river, near what was an old homestead, now the bathrooms. After crossing a river at the base, we gained altitude quickly and walked across a flat mesa formed by glaciers with a short stop near a shephard's hut where we saw 3 Guanacos on their own. From there we walked over to a very high swinging bridge, suitable for "1 person max". This bridge was probably 100 feet above a fast moving river and crossing it was a bit like in an Indian Jones movie. After a successful crossing, we walked down to another river which looked rather milky due to run off from the glacier. It was here that we took off our boots and crossed the river by foot. It was incredibly cold and the rocks hurt my feet. At one point I just sat on a rock in the middle, refusing to move further forward. I finally made it across and we stopped for lunch and to fill our water bottles directly from the stream. Only the third place I've done this, after Antarctica and New Zealand. The taste was good!
After lunch we continued to an area in a small area of forest, forded a stream and lay down, closed our eyes and just listened for about 30 minutes. Amongst other birds, we heard a woodpecker. We continued on across an even flatter mesa. Looking up we saw an old tree that looked like a skin that was staked to dry. On this mesa we saw a condor and heard parakeets. We continued to the end of the mesa and started downhill which was rather steep. At the based of the hill we saw 2 herds of Guanacos. Other guides were elsewhere in the park counting Guanacos, so we counted the Guanacos on our hike. We counted 23 living and 1 dead:). The herd gradually walked/ran away from us as we approached the final swinging bridge, 1 person max, which was not nearly as scary as the first one - only about 10 feet above the river. On the other side of the bridge the Guanacos started signalling danger and ran away. We thought they were scared of us, but it turns out it might have been a puma in the area which was seen by our driver at the bridge near the start of our hike. Wish we had seen it!
As we walked back to the room, we crossed the bridge and saw a herd of about 50 Guanacos along the path. This was amazing for me to just slowly mover amongst them as they grazed. You could see their beautiful eyes and soft heads. For dinner, there was chicken, egg plant, carrots and salad. Very tasty and way too much food. The moon was almost full and unfortunately, too many clouds to see stars early in the morning.
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